Gabon’s Cabinet on Tuesday voted to decriminalise press offenses, in a decision that is a big milestone in the campaign against criminal defamation laws in Africa. The meeting that arrived at the decision was chaired by the central African nation’s president, Ali Bongo Ondimba. Gabon’s current penal code stipulates jail time and heavy...

A Report on the Media Law Reform in Africa Conference in Cape Town by Christian Echle and Katharina Lang. In many African countries, freedom of expression and editorial independence of the media, are often only guaranteed on paper. In many cases media laws from the colonial era continue to be or are altered...